Today European Parliament will discuss the first European Citizen Initiative (ECI) Water is a human right, which has collected 1.8 million signatures in 29 states. An initiative that firmly asks both to guarantee human right to water and sanitation, and do not allow water management liberalization.
EUREAU (European Federation of National Associations of Water Services) has written a statement where, once again, highlights both the private sector hegemony over this institution, and its interest on false claim for becoming the only representative of the public and private sectors.
The statement basically seeks to defend the private water sector in Europe, even recognizing it's a minor option, and deny that water services liberalization drives into rates increases, while demanding an appropriate rates level in order to allow investments; this is, to increase rates.
Social movements recommend EUREAU to read the report Exit of international private water operators in Latin America, from the Interamerican Development Bank, an organization that sponsored water privatization in Latin America; the report explains that the massive failure of water privatization in Latin America was caused mainly by the failure of investments agreed by the private sector, and also due to strong social rejection to unfair rates increase. The report points that we cannot overlook some incompetence on some operators with poor political and technical management, even with opportunistic behavior, that tried to raise revenues through a disproportionate increase in tariffs, or promoting continuous contract renegotiations. By the way, on private investment please read the Public Services International Research Unit report Pipe dreams: The failure of the private sector to invest in water services in developing countries, where it's shown that private operators are not a new source of investment, coming to same financing sources as the public sector (water supply surplus, national or international governments help, development bank and commercial bank loans).
This document also brings an interesting additional data: under the 9 years study, private sector has only provided 0.3 % of new connections necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
If we analyze the situation in Europe, it is not surprising to read that EUREU defends that member states organize water services in accordance with the relevant provisions of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), but no complaints of interference from the Troika, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, in the conditions imposed in the bailout of Greece (privatization of water management in Athens and Thessaloniki) and Portugal (privatization of Portugal Waters). Also no complaints about the letter that Mario Draghi and Jean-Claude Trichet sent to Mario Monti in August 2011, asking him not to do apply the result of the constitutional referendum promoted and won by civil society against the private water management few weeks before. Catarina De Albuquerque, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human right to water and sanitation, noted in her report on July 2013 that austerity measures are often accompanied by calls for greater private sector participation , also in the water and sanitation sector, as a way for governments to increase their incomes. The Special Rapporteur has previously exposed some main problems of providing water and sanitation services by the private sector, from the perspective of human rights.
It should be added that the forced privatization process in Greece has led to 300% water bill rises; in Portugal, a study by the Environmental Companies Association concludes that citizens pay water 30% more expensive under the private sector. In France we can remember that the Paris water management remunicipalisation decreased rates around 8%, and save 35 M €. We can also point that 2006 report on human development from United Nations Development Program Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis, clearly exposes that in unit price terms, public water is by far the lowest cost option… Poor households are already operating in highly commercialized private water markets – markets that deliver (often poor quality) water at exceptionally high prices… Concern over transforming water into a commodity has been a powerful reaction to privatization and, more broadly, to the commercialization of water utilities. At one level, that concern is justified. As a source of life, water should not be treated as a commodity.
Also, if we read the Rapporteur's report of July 2013, we can see a clear relationship between rates increases and no investment: Profits generated by private operators are often distributed almost entirely to shareholders rather than reinvested in part in the maintenance and expansion of services, causing price increases to consumers, the continued need for public investment and potentially unsustainable services. Additionally, the Food & Water Watch report, on January 2009, The failure of water privatization in the United States, points rate increases, deteriorating service and customer services, loss of profits, corruption, loss of jobs and, for example, shows that private funding is more expensive than public funding because corporate bonds interest is higher than in municipal bonds. In addition, corporate bonds are taxable.
But not only private benefits unnecessarily raise rates; we also find concession. In August 2011 the Special Rapporteur informed that funds raised from tariffs can only be used on the operation, maintenance and improvement or extension of access to water and sanitation services and cannot be utilized for other government purposes, and in Spain we find some court judgments against these concession fees. In this sense, we ask EUREAU to talk to their private partners and to end up with these practices; for example 1.000 M € paid to catalan government for the Ter-Llobregat Water privatization to Acciona, or 700 M € for the Barcelona Metropolitan Area in exchange for solving irregular Suez concessions in more than 20 municipalities.
The EUREAU statement is even more surprising when it says that recognizes the difficult circumstances that many European citizens face and supports several initiatives to ensure that water is affordable for all consumers. We don't need to explain to EUREA Spanish partner, Spanish Association of Sanitation and Water Supply Systems, the exponential growth of water cutoffs in Spain, and the inability of oligopoly Aqualia and Suez to ensure affordability; only in the city of Barcelona there were 30.000 water cutoffs, and in the city of Málaga nearly 41,000 inquiries were opened in 2013.
Furthermore, we miss that EUREAU does not remember one of the first successes that this ECI has already achieved: to keep water out of the European directive on concessions, as their private partners originally wanted. European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, admitted the ECI influence, and he understood that people get upset and disappointed when told that their water services can be privatized against their will. I would feel the same like if there was this risk… It is our duty to take into account the concerns expressed by many citizens.
And finally, we are greatly surprised when EUREAU seeks to make us to believe that private water sector agrees with human right to water and sanitation. Since the first World Water Forums (WWF) organized by the World Water Council (another space co-opted by large water corporations), there has been a wide opposition from the private sector to such recognition. Only through mobilizations and alternative forums that took place in Mexico 2006, 4 countries (Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba) signed a supplementary declaration recognizing human right to water. In Turkey 2009, civil society got that 25 countries issued another declaration, and finally, in the Marseille 2012 WWF, once the UN General Assembly had already approved human right to water and sanitation, for the first time official ministerial statement took it into account. So, even if private sector now changes its discourse, because they have no choice, they won't be reliable, as they have spent decades working against this right.
We only we agree on the need and urgency of a strong regulator body which, by the way, clearly goes against all principles of liberalized sector. As accountability and participation, we think private sector has not much interest. In this sense, the Special Rapporteur says the provision of services by private operators may also be of concern in relation to other important principles and human rights standards, including the principles of participation and accountability.
After all these considerations, and after reading your statement, we can only call public operators of EUREAU to urgently quit this body, because it is not defending the public benefit, or even their public vocation and values; values that come out to people, to the Citizen Water Initiative.
Entities and citizens» signing this release:
Asamblea Paz Fama Vistabella de Murcia; Coordinadora para la defensa del agua de Jerez formada por: Federación de Asociaciones de Vecinos, Facua, Ecologistas en Acción, CCOO, UGT, CGT, Ecologistas Tempul, ATTAC, Asociación de Vecinos El Portal, Partido Socialista Obrero Español, Izquierda Unida, Foro Ciudadano, Trabajadores de Ajemsa, Trabajadores de IMESAPI, Trabajadores de la depuradora Guadalete, PDSA, Partido comunista de los pueblos de España, PCE, Asociación de vecinos “Palos Blancos”; Ecologistas en Acción; Federación española de Ingeniería Sin Fronteras; Marea azul del sur; Plataforma Aigua és Vida formada por: Agrupació Aus: Arquitectura i Sostenibilitat, Agrupament Escolta Sant Cugat de Salt, Assemblea 15M de Les Corts, Assemblea 15M de Sant Andreu de Palomar, Assemblea 15M de Sarrià – Sant Gervasi, Assemblea Social Guinardó-Can Baró, Associació de Veïns i Veïnes Sant Genís dels Agudells, Associació Veïnal Vila de Gràcia, Associació Salut i Agroecologia, Ateneu Juvenil, Cultural i Naturalista de Girona, Ateneu Rocaus, Ateneu Roig Cambrils, Attac – ACORDEM, Attac Catalunya, Badalona Indignada, Candidatura Autònoma de Treballadors i Treballadores de l'Administració de Catalunya, Casal Independentista l'Ocell Negre, Col·lectiu Agudells, Col·lectiu per a la Defensa del Medi Ambient de Sant Andreu de la Barca, Col·lectiu RETS (Resposta a les Empreses Transnacionals), Comissions Obreres de Catalunya, Confederació d'Associacions Veïnals de Catalunya, Comitè d'empresa d'Aigües Ter – Llobregat, Comitè d'empresa de l'Agència Catalana de l'Aigua, Dempeus per la Salut Pública, Dia de la Terra, Ecologistes en Acció de Catalunya, Enginyeria Sense Frotneres Catalunya, Federació d'Associacions de Veïns i Veïnes de Barcelona, Gent del Ter, Grup de Defensa del Ter, Intersidindical Alternativa de Catalunya , Institució Altempordanesa per a la Defensa i Estudi de la Natura – Salvem l'Empordà, Lliga per a la Defensa del Patrimoni Natural, Plataforma del Ter, Plataforma d'Oposició als Transvasaments, Plataforma en Defensa de l'Ebre, Plataforma Prousal, TV3 i Catalunya Ràdio són teves, Unió de Consumidors de Catalunya , Unió General de Treballadors de Catalunya, Xarxa de Consum Solidari, Xarxa Nova Cultura de l'Aigua de Catalunya; Plataforma ciudadana APEMSA no se vende formada por: ANDAD, CCOO, Ecologistas en Acción, FLAVE, Foro Social y UGT; Red Agua Pública; y Red de agua Pública de Aragón formada por: CCOO, UGT de Aragón, Fnca, Ecodes, Ecologistas de Aragón, Unión de Consumidores de Aragón,Federación de Barrios, Marea Azul, Coagret y Ansar.
